Portfolio > Captive

Captive tackles the American Gulag industry and the scandal of false imprisonment. They appear to be abstractions but they are really a form of text painting; instead of letterforms or numbers, however, the paintings are an ocean of tally marks. Using one of the simplest counting systems, these markings of four verticals punctuated by a diagonal slash, I make a tabulation of the days lost by those who were falsely imprisoned. Using data from The Innocence Project, the Center for Wrongful Convictions, and the National Registry of Exonerations, I have collected the daily countdown of the falsely imprisoned. The series began with triptych of three men who were convicted of murder and spent 39 years in prison; 14,229 days based upon coercion, bias, and incompetence. Each painting is a crude diary of marking time, of hoping and losing hope, of standing still while the world carries on; punctuated by violence, bureaucratic indifference, and thwarted desire. From that beginning the series continues to grow. Unfortunately, the subject matter for these paintings is abundant—the list of wrongful convictions is tragically long.

Glenn Ford
72"x60"
2021
False Imprisonment
Wax Pencil on panel
14x14"
2016
False Imprisonment
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
6 1/2" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2019
Captive Study #13 (Debra Milke)
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2021
Captive Study #14 (Vincente Bevanides)
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2021
Captive Study #15 (Nathson Fields)
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2021
Captive Study #16 (Paul House)
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2021
Captive Study #17 (Joe D'Ambrosio)
Watercolor on paper
10" x 8"
2021
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Acrylic on canvas
72"x60"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Acrylic on canvas
72"x60"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Acrylic on canvas
72"x60"
2020
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Acrylic on canvas
72"x60"
2019
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Acrylic on canvas
72x60"
2021
False Imprisonment, The Innocence Project, Center for Wrongful Convictions, National Registry of Exonerations
Oil on panel
24x31"
2019
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023